Shares in Northern Graphite rose 25% after it announced the launch of its NGC Battery Materials Group to lead its mine-to-battery strategy, which would make Northern one of the few integrated developers, producers, and processors of natural graphite outside China.
The new entity was formed through the acquisition of the assets and R&D team of the battery division of Germany’s Heraeus Group, including a fully operational, state-of-the-art laboratory in Frankfurt. Northern has also licensed intellectual property from Heraeus to develop, produce, and sell Porocarb, a high-performance porous hard carbon material developed over the last 10 years and patented by Heraeus to enhance the efficiency and speed of energy storage mechanisms.
NGC will be operated by Northern and financed by selling excess production capacity to partners and other material developers. Northern will pay Heraeus a 2% royalty on sales of all Porocarb products.
The group will specialize in advanced material analytics and electrochemical characterization techniques for carbon and battery materials as well as providing in-depth expertise in the field of high-temperature processing, scale-up, and carbon design. This will enable Northern to provide tailored solutions to EV battery makers and original equipment manufacturers to satisfy their various unique battery requirements.
NGC Battery Materials Group will lead the development of Northern’s planned modular 200,000 tonnes-per-year Baie-Comeau, Que., battery anode material plant, with construction anticipated to begin in 2026, subject to financing.
Northern shares traded at C$0.20 apiece on Wednesday afternoon in Toronto, valuing the company at C$26 million. Its shares traded in a 52-week range of C$0.16 and C$0.64.
